In The Wings
by the green lama
Summary: Englehorn and Jimmy watch from the wings as the events of Carl's doomed stage show unfold. But what part will they play in the evening that follows?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N:** Lo! My third Englehorn and Jimmy fic, and no doubt many more will come. This one will be in three parts, reviews are very much appreciated, oh, and I don't own King Kong, marvellous as that would be. Enjoy!

**Chapter 1**

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen!"

An enthusiastic round of applause rose from the ranks of wealthy theatregoers seated in the comfortable seats of the Alhambra.

"What a prat."

Englehorn glanced at Jimmy with a grin upon hearing his bitter comment.

"Be nice," he joked, leaning casually against a disused set piece by the side of the stage. "This idiot is responsible for our forthcoming pay, remember?"

He looked out into the theatre. The audience, he thought, resembled dolls in a toy shop, dresses in all their fine clothes and stacked up in the window against a backdrop of gold and red velvet, gleaming glass eyes all fixed on the foolish character on stage. Denham looked odd in the spotlight to those that had known him in the jungle of Skull Island, yet still utterly in his element. The gleam of success in his eyes was visible even from Englehorn's vantage point.

"But you're right," the Venture's captain agreed. "He is a prat."

Jimmy barely seemed to hear. "Our money isn't all he's responsible for."

Englehorn felt a pang of grief – he too missed the calm and commanding presence of his lost first mate – but he wondered vaguely how many men it would take to restrain the stubborn youth once Denham came off stage.

There was a blast of trumpets and a trill of strings as the scheming film-maker unveiled his twenty-five foot ape, followed by gasps of fear and astonishment from the on-lookers. Englehorn yawned, however, involuntary or not Jimmy would never know.

"Ladies and gentlemen, we have in the theatre tonight a very special guest."

The skipper's insides turned to ice as he heard Denham's announcement. He knew Driscoll had offered a play premiere as his excuse and was elsewhere, so he had a horrible feeling about just who this VIP could be.

"Coming through, boys, 'scuse me!"

They became aware of a commotion behind them.

"Ah! Evenin' fellas!"

"Bruce?" Jimmy was the first to put a name to the voice.

Englehorn turned to see the actor approaching them, clad in the white garb of a nineteenth century explorer. He cast his eyes over his once-passenger's absurd get-up.

"Baxter, you look ridiculous."

Jimmy sniggered, but the gleaming white smile didn't droop.

"Nice to see you made the effort with your wardrobe," Bruce replied smugly.

Englehorn didn't move a muscle: the star's sarcasm was both expected and ignored. Indeed, neither he nor Jimmy had attempted to look smart for the occasion. Englehorn hadn't even bothered to roll down the sleeves of his worn chocolate-brown shirt, and his companion had stuck to his usual blue. Only their off-white seamen's caps differentiated them at all from the poorly paid backstage hands around them.

"Excuse me, sir."

Englehorn was now addressed by a man in a long grey overcoat who, from the photographer he had in tow, could only have been a journalist. Baxter took the opportunity to dash on to the stage, to tremendous applause.

The reporter held out a hand. "Good evening. Arthur Bailey, New York Times." Englehorn didn't shake the hand offered. "Would you happen to be a…" He checked his notepad. "…Captain J. Englehorn of the ship S. S. Venture?"

How had they gotten their hands on his first name?

"What's it to you?"

"Would you mind answering a couple of questions?"

"Yes."

"We'd just like to hear about your part in the capture of the beast behind you – "

"Did you hear me?"

" – And then your views on this stage show. Also, is it true that your crew sustained heavy losses and – "

"Mr. Bailey." Englehorn's cold tone and stern expression said a thousand words. "I would not like to see violence at such a major event as this."

"Are you threatening me?"

The seaman simply raised an eyebrow and Jimmy grinned; the skipper's glare made him quail every time. Sure enough, the journalist raised his hands and backed off.

Neither sailor said anything in the brief pause that followed, until Jimmy voiced the question Englehorn had been expecting.

"What's the J stand for in your name?"

"Shut up."

There was another short silence.

"Why didn't you answer their questions, skipper?"

"I'd rather nor relive the events of our last voyage, Jimmy."

"Then why'd you come here tonight?"

Englehorn didn't answer. Why had he come here tonight? Why had he accepted Denham's invitation to dwell on the memories of lost friends?

"_You don't know where the hell you're going!"_

The words of Hayes came back to him, spoken just before arrival at the place that robbed him of peaceful slumber even now. If he'd listened to his trusted first mate, if he'd shut off the ship's engines, maybe none of this would have happened. Maybe Denham would be in prison by now. Maybe the Venture wouldn't need so much precious money spent on repairs. Maybe Hayes –

No. He shook his head and groaned.

"Goddamn it, Jimmy, why are we here?"

Jimmy opened his mouth to say something, probably along the lines of the thoughts running through the captain's head, but was cut short by the ape behind him rattling its chains, and looked up at it in horror.

"It is supposed to be doing that?" he asked uncertainly.

Englehorn looked around him and saw that the New York Times photographer, Arthur Bailey close behind, had had the bright idea of taking a photo of the enormous animal, and was but the first in a long line of others like him.

Before he could advise them against it, the deafening roar behind him displayed the ape's agitation at the bright white flashes from stage left. He shook the chains madly, monstrous in his rage.

"Stop it!" Jimmy called to the photographers, but they ignored him in the face of a new picture opportunity. Denham and Baxter were exiting the stage, and this chance for a picture that would sell thousands of newspapers could not be missed.

Englehorn looked out into the auditorium at the rows of spectators looking on with awe. He could now see a slim figure he quickly recognised as Driscoll causing a commotion up in the grand circle, but the playwright was being ignored, for the most part. Indeed, the orchestra were the only people he could see looking unnerved, double bass players in particular, at the events unfolding on stage.

Then, with a violent wrench, Kong ripped one fist free of its shackles.

Dead silence.

Even the ape himself seemed shocked at his own strength. Quickly, a tremor of panic spread through the audience, and seats were abandoned in terror.

"My God…" Englehorn was dumbstruck with horror. He had seen what this beast could do. He barely noticed as the actress playing Ann Darrow was hurled through the air above his head before crashing noisily to the ground backstage.

"We have to get out of here!" He looked for his companion. "Jimmy!" The youth was rooted to the spot in terror. "Jimmy! We have to go!"

Jimmy blinked out of his stupor as the ape wrenched his second arm free.

"Run!" He finally responded as the captain took hold of his wrist and dragged him away.

"Wait!" he called, pulling away.

"You fool! This is no time to be a hero!"

"Jack!"

Englehorn froze and followed Jimmy's gaze. Kong was amidst the seats by now, and staring with petrifying intensity at the twentieth century Shakespeare they both knew so well.

"There's nothing we can do," Englehorn said. Already the playwright was dashing out of the theatre. "Come on!"

Jimmy followed him this time, out of the stage door and into a dark side street. The cold barely registered in their minds, but it cut into their flesh like knives. Englehorn glanced both ways quickly but Jimmy was already running, to the skipper's horror, towards the direction of the screams.

"Jimmy! Are you crazy?"

His shouts went unheard, so, cursing under his breath in his native German, he followed him. As they were running, there was an almighty crash, and the screams grew louder. The wall of the theatre shook above them, wobbled precariously for a few seconds, then crashed down into the road as the sailors dived out into the square. Wooden beams and chunks of bricks hit the ground all around them and a layer of plaster started to settle. Englehorn picked himself up slowly and brushed down his clothes, coughing in the dust.

"Jesus Christ, Jimmy. That was too close."

He thumped the choking crew's youngster on the back and led him by the arm out into Times Square.

It was late evening by now, but the bright lights blared out their flashing colours as ever, despite the shards of glass and lumps of concrete that kept flying through the air.

"There's Jack," Englehorn told his companion, instantly picking out their friend in the middle of the melee.

"He's ok then?" Jimmy's eyes were watering after his spell of coughing.

The Venture's captain saw Driscoll climb into an abandoned cab, but groaned – only a foolhardy writer like him would come up with an idea as stupid as driving _towards_ the ape, who now, incidentally, was busy bashing the hell out of a tram loaded with passengers.

"What's he doing?" It appeared Jimmy had seen him too. Noticing Jack, the beast dropped the tram and turned on his yellow car, but the writer went ahead and drove straight through his legs.

"Come on, skipper, we have to help!"

Englehorn did a doubletake and grabbed the back of Jimmy's shirt before he could scamper away to join in.

"Do you hold your life in any importance?"

"At least I'm not a coward, unlike _some_!"

"It's called intelligence, Jimmy."

"Mr. Hayes would've helped Jack!"

The captain opened his mouth to make a witty comeback, but no sound came out. Cursing in German for the second time in mere minutes, he let Jimmy go, and, though he knew he would regret it somehow, followed him into the square.

* * *

**A/N:** Hope you liked this! Please leave me a review to let me know what you think! Thanks for reading,

the green lama


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Here's one, skipper!"

Neither Englehorn nor Jimmy paused before diving into the abandoned blue motorcar they'd found by the roadside. The captain pushed his companion out of the driving seat, however.

"You can't drive!" Jimmy insisted.

"And you can? I've done more driving than you, believe me."

"Not on land. This isn't a tramp steamer."

"I've flown planes, how hard can this be?"

Jimmy stared while Englehorn took in the set-up before him. He turned the key in the ignition and groaned as the engine stuttered hopelessly.

"Damn American machine!"

He thumped the dashboard and the car revved into life, but Jimmy hardly noticed.

"When did you fly planes?"

"Years ago, back in Germany." Jimmy watched the older man expectantly. "And if you think you're hearing more than that you've got another thing coming."

Jimmy was gobsmacked upon hearing of this chapter in the captain's history, but Englehorn continued.

"So how exactly did you plan on helping that godforsaken writer?" he asked.

Before Jimmy could answer, Driscoll's car was away out of the square, the ape close behind, hurling aside anything in his path. It didn't take the youth's yell of "Follow!" for Englehorn to ram his foot down on the pedal, and they were off, hot on Jack's tail.

Jimmy watched the Captain curiously out of the corner of his eye. He desperately wanted to hear more of his companion's time as a pilot, but thought better of asking.

The drive through the streets of downtown New York was a wild and bumpy journey. Englehorn flew the vehicle along at a speed faster that Jimmy had known a car could go, trailing Jack by the screams, scared faces, and general devastation and wreckage in the road. Indeed, the elder seaman noticed, navigating the debris of Driscoll's chase came close to the entry to Skull Island: purely trial and error.

"Skipper!" Jimmy cried, thrown against the window as Englehorn swerved round a corner particularly violently. They skidded straight across a crossroads and past a row of shattered windows.

"Stop!" Jimmy yelled.

The Captain rammed the brake down, eventually bringing the automobile to a stop in the middle of the road.

"What?" he asked, but the youngster was already out of the vehicle.

Englehorn pursued him, and, seeing the scene that had prompted Jimmy's yell, grabbed hold of the back of his shirt and hauled him behind the wreckage of an overturned car.

Englehorn peered through a smashed window at the now stationary form of the giant ape towering over the crumpled heap that was Jack's car. Jimmy let out a whimper: the motionless body of the writer was just visible inside.

The skipper couldn't help the small twinge of sadness at the end of his mind. He made a point of not forming friendships, when he could help it, but Driscoll had been held in high esteem since he'd risked his life for that of Ann Darrow. Jimmy had been fond of the playwright, and Englehorn laid a reassuring hand on his shoulder, his eyes lingering in pity on the youth's grief-stricken face.

Turning his blue eyes back to Kong, the captain watched the ape scoop up Jack's body in one huge hand. Jimmy let out a cry of surprise; the limp and lifeless limbs jerked into action. The writer gasped in pain as the beast's grip tightened and Englehorn winced – the crack of bones breaking was audible even from his position.

"He's alive!" Jimmy whispered urgently. "We have to do something!"

"Jimmy!" Englehorn grasped his blue shirt for the second time as Jimmy made to scamper away. The captain's piercing blue eyes locked with the tear-filled ones opposite as he spoke softly. "We can't do anything."

Jimmy let out a sob and buried his face in the skipper's shoulder. For once, Englehorn didn't spurn the sentimentality of the moment, and his pity showed in his eyes as he embraced the youngster.

"Englehorn."

They both started as they heard a familiar female voice. When he first glanced up, Englehorn thought he was seeing an angel, before he recognised the slender form of Ann Darrow. Jimmy gazed at her in amazement, momentarily stunned by her beauty, but she was looking at the captain.

It didn't take the look in her eyes for him to know what she planned to do – he knew she was the only person alive who could control Kong.

"If he survives…" she began quietly, her doleful eyes going to Jack.

Englehorn nodded before she could finish: she wanted him to help the man she loved, and, for both her sake and Jimmy's, he assented gladly.

Then, with no more to say than this, the actress walked slowly and carefully out towards the ape. The low growl it was making ceased instantly as it noticed her, as time seemed to, to Englehorn. Even he was astounded by Ann's beauty, and now, with her white gown glistening and a gentle breeze tugging at her golden curls, the resemblance to an angel was stronger than ever.

The beast absent-mindedly threw Jack away, and he slid close enough to them for Englehorn to see his weary face. He caught the writer's eyes and relief appeared in them instantly, but Driscoll, unconcerned as ever for his own health, used what little energy he had left to raise his head and look at Ann.

Kong held out a hand and she climbed gracefully into it, before being lifted up to sit on his shoulder. This done, the actress was carried away, a calm air of contentment about the animal.

Before the ape was even out of sight, Jimmy and Englehorn leapt out from their hiding place simultaneously and hurried to Jack's aid. Jimmy's face was still wet with tears as they knelt down beside him, but the playwright barely seemed to notice.

"Ann!" he said in a weak and feeble tone.

"She knows what she's doing," Englehorn told him. "Try thinking of yourself for once."

"Are you hurt?" Jimmy asked, ignoring the Captain's swift return to his usual stern self.

"That's a broken leg if ever I saw one," Englehorn muttered, eyeing the limb that stuck out at a far from normal angle.

"We have to help her!" Jack said weakly, his quiet voice desperate yet determined. He tried to sit up, but gasped in pain and thought better of it. Englehorn eyed the writer's pale, slender fingers as he gently patted his own torso through a finely tailored overcoat.

"I wouldn't be surprised if there are a couple of broken ribs, too," he muttered. Jimmy glanced up in shock, but Jack ignored him.

"We have to help her!" he repeated, even more faintly.

"Get a grip, man!" Englehorn said sternly in frustration. "What do you want to do, take on the ape? You tried that once already and look how far that got you."

The playwright let out a sigh of despair.

"We could at least follow her," Jimmy suggested. Englehorn glanced at him angrily, but the fading light in Jack's eyes was swiftly rekindled.

"Yes!" he exclaimed. "Follow them!"

"Are you crazy?" Englehorn asked, but any arguments he could make were in vain, and, not for the first time that evening, he found himself doing something he was certain he would regret.

Somehow, Englehorn and Jimmy managed to get Jack into the back of the car, into the half-lying, half-sitting position that was most comfortable.

"Where are we going?" Englehorn asked, turning the key in the ignition.

"After the ape!" Jimmy replied quickly.

"That was most helpful, Jimmy. Any better ideas?"

Neither passenger answered, so, sighing deeply, the captain drove in the direction he'd last seen Kong heading, and they reached Central Park as dawn broke.

"Can you see them yet?" Jack inquired feebly from the back seat.

Englehorn didn't get a chance to answer, but swore loudly as a blockade of khaki jeeps suddenly pulled out of a side street and forced him to swerve violently. Still cursing, he drove on down the street he'd been forced into, while Jimmy looked back apprehensively at the weapons on the back of the vehicles.

"That's the army," he told them nervously.

"Wonderful."

Englehorn winced as the first shots were fired, followed by a heart-rending scream that could only have been Ann.

Jack uttered a low moan of despair, but it was quickly drowned out as more shots were fired. Next they heard the all too familiar roar of the beast, and Kong himself came leaping along the very street they were in, a white figure clutched in his hand. He overtook them swiftly, before scaling a nearby building and continuing his journey over the rooftops.

"Where's he headed?" Englehorn asked frantically. The car was still hurtling along at a terrifying speed, but Jimmy hoisted himself up and leant out of the window to get a better view.

"It looks like–"

He broke off and leaned out further, so much so that Englehorn grabbed the back of his shirt to haul him back in, if need be.

"He's heading for the really tall one," Jimmy announced, sliding back into his seat. "I can't remember its name."

Jack mumbled it to them from the back seat, but his voice wasn't audible over the screech of tyres as Englehorn swiftly changed direction.

"Good choice," the captain remarked.

"Why?" asked Jimmy.

"There's not much that can get him up there."

They turned a corner and caught a glimpse of the ape through the windscreen, quickly climbing the towering concrete structure of the tallest building in the world. Ann's in her gleaming white gown was barely visible in his hand.

"What do we do now?" Jimmy asked.

Englehorn pulled up outside a tall office block. "We go upstairs to get a better view."

Together, they managed to life Jack out of the car and carried him up the steps to the large glass doors.

"Locked!" he moaned as Jimmy shook the handle in vain.

Englehorn didn't reply, but simply glanced both ways quickly before putting his elbow through the glass and opening it from the inside, then leading them in.

They were stood in the foyer of offices of a clearly important and wealthy company, with more marble than Jimmy had ever seen all in one place, and a wide, sweeping staircase directly in front of them leading up to the first floor. Englehorn didn't stop to admire the view, and quickly broke into a janitor's cupboard. There was something casual in his manner that told Jimmy he'd done this before.

"Wheelchair?" the captain suggested to Jack, wheeling out a wooden trolley.

Then, pushing a triangular button in the wall, they settled down to wait for the elevator.

* * *

**A/N:** Thanks to those of you who left a review for the previous chapter, all were very much appreciated! I've got mock maths exams coming up and countless essays to write, but hopefully the last chapter shouldn't be too long coming. Please review, and many thanks for reading,

the green lama


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Englehorn had never known time to pass so slowly. Lighting a cigarette, he took a long drag from it, blowing out the cloud of smoke into the cold morning air.

"How long are they going to stay up there?"

Jack's tired eyes had been glued to the Empire State Building for all of the long twenty minutes they'd been on the rooftop, as he lay against a wall beside the makeshift wheelchair Englehorn had found for him. It was the early hours of the morning, but the first rays of the sun crept over a city very different from what it had been the evening before.

"I guess we'll have to wait till he gets bored and comes down," Jimmy said, but Englehorn shook his head.

"The army's already been called out, it's just a simple matter of waiting for the air force."

Jack let out a low moan, and Jimmy stared at the Captain in horror.

"They can't do that!" he exclaimed. "Ann's still up there, and they can't fire on an innocent American!"

"The ape'll protect her," Jack murmured.

Jimmy said nothing more for the moment, but, like the writer he sat beside, stared up at the distant black silhouette perched on top of the tallest building in the world. Soon, his eyes turned back to the Englehorn, and he risked asking the question that had been on the tip of his tongue for hours.

"Skipper, won't you tell me about your time flying aeroplanes?"

The Captain gave him a dark look. "It's none of your business."

"No disrespect, sir, but my past is really none of your business and you still made me tell you."

Englehorn said nothing; he knew Jimmy was right. Unbeknown to Hayes, within days of allowing Jimmy to remain on board the Venture, the Captain had bullied him into telling all of his origins, not liking to be kept in the dark about just who he was employing. It turned out Jimmy had been brought up in New York and Glasgow by an English mother and an Irish father, hence his unidentifiable accent. His father had beaten him freqently, provoked by the slightest of actions, so the fourteen-year-old ran away one night after a particularly violent beating. He wound up at the docks with the full intention of stowing away one of the ships there, so had been found in the bat cages of the Venture the next morning by Hayes and Choy, with his arm broken in two places by his father.

"Fine," Englehorn muttered. Jimmy couldn't hide his triumphant smile, and even Jack turned his head to listen.

"It was during the war. The Great War, you call it. There was no way I could get out of fighting, and, as my father was a mechanic who helped build planes, it seemed fitting that I should fly them. Flying is a wonderful feeling, and I loved it, at first. The freedom I felt while up in the air was so great I can hardly describe it. That was simply my training, however. I joined up with a friend of mine, his name was Thomas, and a few weeks into fighting, I watched his plane be shot down in flames and explode in a field far below at the hands of a British pilot. That put me off flying for the rest of my life."

"Were you scared?" Jimmy asked.

"Not for myself, no, but the memory of Thomas prevented me from ever going up in the air again. After this, I joined the navy, electing not to be blown to pieces in the trenches, and was posted to a battleship in the Atlantic. There I served out the remaining six months of the war. I was high ranking, but not enough so to escape losing my job on the terms of your treaty, so I boarded a ship out of Germany and wound up on the Venture not long afterwards."

There was silence now. The Captain tapped his cigarette ash onto the floor while Jimmy watched him in astonishment. Driscoll turned his eyes back to the Emprie State Building.

"Do you regret that you lost it?" Jimmy asked.

"Lost what?"

"The War."

"I've told you all I'm willing to tell."

Englehorn stubbed out his cigarette and flicked the end over the edge of the roof. He stopped dead, suddenly, mid-flick, before turning towards the sun, squinting.

"What is it?" Jimmy asked.

"Here they are," the skipper announced.

Jimmy didn't have to turn to know what his fellow seaman had spotted – he too now could hear the drone of the approaching aeroplanes. They looked impressive, set against a beautiful sunrise, but Jimmy frowned. He knew they spelt doom for Kong.

They could hear the noise of the guns even from this distance, rousing particularly unpleasant memories in all of the last time that they'd heard machine guns fired, but could see nothing except the far-away bi-planes swooping around the skyscraper.

All three lost track of how much time had passed. Englehorn lit several cigarettes, but all were forgotten about, and burnt his fingers before quickly being flicked away. A plane missing one of its wings crashed to the ground with an explosion a few streets away, but no more followed it.

"He must be dead by now," Jimmy muttered to Englehorn after maybe ten minutes had passed, but the skipper simply shook his head and gave the youth a dark look.

They heard Jack let out a whimper of pain, and Englehorn looked at him in concern. The writer was badly injured, but any offers to take him to a hospital had been refused as violently as possible. He could barely keep his eyes open, being incredibly weak, and looked to be in great pain.

"Skipper! Look!"

Englehorn's sharp blue eyes flicked back to the Empire State Building as he heard Jimmy's frantic shout, and quickly picked out the falling black shape that had caught the youth's attention.

"The airplanes got him!" Jimmy cried.

There was no mistaking the form of the enormous ape, gathering momentum as it fell, before hitting the ground with a thud audible even from their vantage point.

"Ann!"

Jack's voice was at its most feeble as he inquired after his loved one yet again.

Englehorn squinted up at the skyscraper. "I can't see anything," he told the writer, and a sigh of distress was the only reply he received. A quick glance over his shoulder told him Jack had lost consciousness.

"Christ, no!" The skipper ran to Driscoll's side. "Help me, Jimmy!"

"Jack!"

The writer was still semi-conscious, they found, and they revived him quickly simply with their frantic shouts.

"It's ok now, Jack!" Jimmy exclaimed as he blinked dazedly. "The ape's dead! They got him!"

Driscoll's face was a picture of despair. "But what about Ann?"

Englehorn caught his eye and shook his head. "We don't know anything about her yet."

Jack groaned. "Then get me back to the car so we can find out!"

The combined efforts of Jimmy and Englehorn somehow managed to accomplish this in the quarter of an hour that followed, but the crowds that filled the streets around the Empire State meant they couldn't go far in the car. Soon, Jimmy and Englehorn ended up wheeling Jack along on the trolley they'd kept.

They pushed their way along the snow-covered pavement, Englehorn swearing and using his elbows a substantial amount more than was necessary, passing the colossal body of the ape that was now being swarmed over by public and journalists alike. The Captain was certain Arthur Bailey would be somewhere in the melee.

Eventually, they arrived at the main entrance to the building, only to find it still surrounded by soldiers.

"You have to let us through!" Jimmy started to argue straight away. "There's a woman up there and—"

"The building's off-limits," was the harsh reply of one young man.

"You don't understand!" Jimmy insisted. "We're—"

"Jimmy."

The youth turned to face the skipper upon hearing him speak, but Englehorn's blue eyes were focused elsewhere: on the familiar figure that was being led through the glass doors of the building.

"There she is, Jack," the Captain said softly in the writer's ear, and he struggled to sit up to see Ann led outside.

He called her name feebly and she looked up in surprise, her face glistening with tears and her golden curls windswept and dishevelled.

"Jack?"

She shook off the hands of the policemen that had been guiding her and ran towards him, grasping the hand that he reached out to her.

"Jack!"

For the first time all night, the playwright's face broke into a wide smile of peace and relief.

"Are you alright?" Ann asked frantically, eyeing him anxiously.

"Just a couple of broken bones, nothing too important. But you, Ann, what about you?"

She ignored him. "You need a doctor!"

"No!" He waved her away. "I'm fine for now."

"But how did you get here in this state?"

Jack looked across at Englehorn in reply, and the relief in Ann's face disappeared quickly as she saw him.

"I guess I owe you my thanks then, Captain Englehorn," she said, sounding not in the least like she meant it.

He frowned; it was clear this was not all she wanted to say to him. He had always expected her to blame him for everything in Denham's absence, and, sure enough, her true feelings were swiftly brought to the surface.

"Why did you do it?" she asked. "Why did you bring him back to New York?"

"Do you think I foresaw any of this?"

"Oh, come on! A giant ape in a theatre? What did you expect to happen?"

"Ann," Jack begged, "Please don't be like this."

"He wasn't doing any harm!" she cried, ignoring him, her voice rising quickly in anger.

"No," Englehorn muttered, "Just eating young women."

Ann's eyes flashed in anger. "He fought for me! He saved my life countless times, yet _you_ threw chloroform in his face and brought him back into captivity to be shot at and pursued constantly, and now he's dead!"

"And so are most of my crew!"

Silence had fallen around them; Englehorn's voice had risen higher than he had intended.

"Had you forgotten that?" he asked. "And do you want to know something else? All of them died for you. To save _you_."

The actress looked alarmed. Englehorn took a step closer to her and she quailed under the glare of his cold blue eyes. He spoke again, this time in so low a tone even she could barely hear it.

"You are not the only person to have lost something dear to you."

His gaze flashed briefly to Jimmy before turning back to her. Now the sorrow in her eyes was mingled with guilt and shame.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

Englehorn's face softened. "Me too."

"Ann," Jack called, and she retreated into his weak arms. He whispered something into her ear that no one else could hear, and, smiling through her tears, she exclaimed, "I love you too, Jack," before their lips met in a loving and passionate kiss.

Englehorn turned away; a couple that had been through as much as they had together deserved all of the privacy they could get in a crowded street. Jimmy stared, but the skipper muttered his name sharply, and he too turned his back.

"What now, skipper?" he asked. "Where do we go now?"

Englehorn didn't reply. He didn't know how too. Instead, he reached in his pocket for a cigarette, but didn't get as far as lighting it, having suddenly spotted an all too familiar face moving through the crowd towards them. Jimmy had seen him too; that much was clear from the way he tightly clenched his fists. The Captain caught hold of his arm quickly.

"Don't hit him, Jimmy," he warned, "Not before he hands me my cheque. After that you can rip him to pieces for all I care."

Carl Denham looked dazed, and didn't see them at first.

"Englehorn?"

"Good morning, Denham," the seaman said. "Pleasant evening?"

The ruined film-maker gave him a dirty look and made to walk straight past them, but the skipper grabbed hold of his coat and pulled him back.

"No, Denham. There's still the small matter of two thousand dollars I have yet to receive."

Carl groaned. "I don't have any money."

"That's not my problem. My cheque, if you please."

Mumbling to himself, Carl pulled out a pen.

"And I could do with an extra thousand or so to pay for repairs to my ship," Englehorn added.

Sighing in frustration, Denham wrote out a cheque for three thousand dollars, which the Captain folded up carefully.

"He's all yours, Jimmy," he said, stowing it away carefully in his top pocket.

Carl glanced at the youth in horror, but Jimmy punched him squarely in the face. Englehorn laughed out loud for the first time in months as a wide grin of satisfaction spread across his companion's features. The film-maker caressed his probably broken nose, before being hit again and again.

"That's enough!" Ann pulled Jimmy away, and a grateful smile lightened the now bleeding face before her.

"Thanks, Ann!"

Englehorn grinned; he knew the actress well enough to guess her real motive behind stopping Jimmy. Sure enough, the sound of her palm colliding with Carl's cheek could be heard streets away. Ann administered another two slaps, then a swift knee in the groin that left her victim rolling on the floor in agony. Jimmy and Jack both gazed at her in awe.

"Mr. Denham!"

The eyes of the addressed snapped open in horror, and he scrambled to his feet as he saw the police officers working their way through the crowd towards him.

"Holy Christ!" he exclaimed. Denham hurried away, and that was the last they ever saw of him. Jimmy giggled, and smiles rose to the faces of even Ann and Jack.

"What now, skipper?" Jimmy asked for the second time.

Englehorn shrugged. "What now, Driscoll?"

The playwright grinned. "A lift to a hospital wouldn't go much amiss, for starters," he said weakly.

Jimmy instantly took his place again as the driver of Jack's janitor trolley. Englehorn walked behind them, content in his cheque, if slightly chilly. And Ann? She walked at the head of the odd party, beautiful and proud, her awe-inspiring appearance creating a handy path through the crowd.

"What am I then, Captain?" Jack called back to Englehorn. "A lion, or a chimpanzee?"

The skipper exchanged grins with the writer, his blue eyes sparkling. "Oh, I couldn't possibly decide. What do you say, Miss Darrow?"

Ann sent an enchanting smile over her shoulder to the writer she had only seconds ago been in the arms of. "A lion, perhaps?"

* * *

**A/N:** Ah, I do love nice, happy endings! Hope you do too! Thanks for reading, and any last reviews you are willing to leave me will be very much appreciated. Next, I plan to submit ANOTHER Englehorn fic, this time romantic. Kindly take the time to read it, if you're into that genre! Oh, and please let me know what you think of the histories I invented for Jimmy and Englehorn!

Thanks,

the green lama


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